Skip to main content

Streaked rattlepod (Crotalaria pallida)

Kuku renteng or streaked rattlepod or chique chique or giant striata (Crotalaria pallida) are flowering plant species in the Fabaceae family, annual perennial shrubs or short-lived, up to 1.5 m high with woody stems, hairy and have longitudinal grooves.

C. pallida has leaves with a trifoliate structure with 2-8.5 cm long stems, 3-13x2–5 cm wide and elliptical. Flowers are yellow or reddish brown and appear on stems 15-40 cm long, each of which consists of 20-30 flowers.

Dlium Streaked rattlepod (Crotalaria pallida)

Fruits are pod shaped and measure 3-5x0.6-0.8 cm, each of which has 30-40 seeds that are heart shaped and measuring 3x2 mm, shiny and dark brown. The pods are green and brown when ripe, then dry and fall to carry water.

Kuku renteng grows wildly around rice fields, untreated lands and seasonal wet environments. This plant is favored by many flying insects including great eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina), chocolate grass yellow (Eurema sari), kismo bee (Xylocopa aestuans) and Javanese grasshopper (Valanga nigricornis).



Streaked rattlepod is widely used as ground cover and is processed as green manure. Flowers are eaten as vegetables and seeds baked to be used as a kind of coffee drink in Cambodia. Roots are chewed with areca nut in Vietnam.

C. pallida is also widely applied in traditional medicine to treat urinary problems and reduce fever, the roots are used to treat joint swelling and leaf extract to expel intestinal worms.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Spermatophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Dicotyledonae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Crotalaria

Popular Posts

Black jumping spider (Hyllus diardi)

Black jumping spider ( Hyllus diardi ) is an animal species in the Salticidae, black and white spiders, long hair, round head, elongated belly, relatively small, arboreal, perched on leaves in bushes and low trees in forests and agricultural lands. H. diardi has black and white color, shiny surface and white hair all over the body. The head is round, shiny black with a linear white line in the middle. Black eyes on the front of the head. The stomach has an elongated, jointed, black cylindrical shape with black plots at the top of each segment. The legs are long, segmented, shiny black or brownish in color and hairy. Black jumping spiders live arboreal, perch on leaf surfaces, low bushes, trees in forests, agricultural land, roadsides and shade. Very sensitive to human presence and will hide behind leaves to avoid sight. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Chelicerata Class: Arachnida Order: Araneae Suborder: Araneomorphae Infraorder: Entelegynae Superfamily: Salticoi...

Java milkwort (Polygala javana)

Java milkwort ( Polygala javana ) is a species of plant in the Polygalaceae family. It has erect, woody, branched stems with brown to black stems and white hairs or powdery hairs. The leaves are opposite and alternate. The leaves are oval, up to 30 mm long and up to 9 mm wide, and green. The inflorescences are arranged in panicles, arranged in rows and radially. The flowers are butterfly-shaped, yellow, green, and purple, with white hairs, up to 8 mm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Polygalaceae Tribe: Polygaleae Genus: Polygala Tourn. ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 701 (1753) Species: Polygala javana DC. in Prodr. 1: 327 (1824) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Polygala ceylanica B.Heyne ex Wall. in Numer. List: n.° 4183 (1831) Polygala javana var. angustifolia Thwaites in Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 22 (1864) Polygala raoi R.N.Banerjee & L.K.Banerjee in Proc. Indian Acad. Sci., B 82: 218 (1975) PUBLICATIONS Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H....

Cat's whiskers (Orthosiphon aristatus)

Remujung atau kumis kucing atau cat's whiskers ( Orthosiphon aristatus ) is a species of plant in the Lamiaceae, an erect herb, the lower part is rooted at the joints, 2 meters high, the stem has four corners and is somewhat grooved with short hair or bald, has joints where branches grow to the left and right and is dark purple. O. aristatus has round or oval, lanceolate, round-ovate or rhombic leaves starting from the base, 1-10 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, 4-29 cm long stalks and a main vein in the middle, leaf stalk length 7-29 cm. Glandular flower petals, veins and bases are short and sparsely hairy, while the uppermost part is bald. The terminal crown is a bunch that comes out of the end of the branch with a length of 7-29 cm. Length 13-27mm, covered with short purple hairs on the top and then turning white, tube length 10-18 mm, lip length 4.5-10mm, blunt flower strands, round. Stamens are longer than flower tubes and exceed the upper lip of the flower. Dark brown fruit, 1.75-...